Yu-Gi-Oh! ParaZeal
by Aristomacho
Summary: Yuma Tsukumo lives a normal life in Heartland with his friends. But makes a big mistake when he releases the cursed Numbers into the world which causes a secret organization to rise up and attempt to collect the Numbers. It will be up to him and allies to stop the Resolvers and return the cursed cards back to where they came from in this alternate universe.
1. Prologue

**Hello, and welcome to my first ZeXal story!**

**This story will be vastly different from the canon/real plot, but contains the original characters and a couple custom ones. Basically an alternate universe I would say and the character's stories will be a little different and a few new areas. **

**Don't worry; the characters will still have their personalities, although maybe developed differently and changes.**

**Alright, without further ado; I present ParaZeal (Parallel + Zexal = ParaZeal!), my story and I hope you will find it enjoyable!**

*_Prologue_*

He found himself wandering through a beautiful forest. The leaves were greener than the color itself and the soft dirt did not make any sound as the boy took cautious steps deeper into the tree-filled world.

The air was misty and strange; not dangerous, but mysterious. As he continued on, he came upon a clearing surrounded by the trees with the moonlight shining down through the treetops onto the ground. The boy, overtaken by curiosity, gripped the golden pendant around his neck and continued through the moonlight area, until he saw a dark cave. He stopped in his tracks.

_What is this place, _he thought. _How did I end up here? _

But he still kept going until he came to the mouth of the cave itself. The interior was actually visible due to the cracks from the inner walls as the boy entered.

He continued through the passage until he came upon a large room-like area. Pillars carved of strange creatures were strewn around the room that led towards a large rectangular object.

When observed closely, he saw that it was a door or what appeared to be so. There were strange drawings of creatures and carvings that covered the door, with a large hole in the center.

The boy noticed that his pendant started to glow a golden light and cupped it into his hand.

_What is going on?_ He thought

_Do you desire strength to overcome your weakness?_

The boy fell back and groaned as he landed on his butt, but immediately looked up at the door.

"Did _that _thing just speak to me?" he asked.

_Do you desire strength to overcome your fears?_

"What?" the boy was still confused as to where the voice was coming form. He took the pendant in his hands again and saw that it resonated with light that grew brighter and brighter.

The whole cavernous area started to move; the stalagmites above began to wave, and the ground was shaking. The pillars took form and the limbs of the carvings began to animate themselves.

"W-what's going on?" he yelled in confusion.

_There is power that you will require, but only if you so desire…_

Everything around him warped, until sudden blackness…

*_End…_*

** I'm guessing that you might know "what" happened here and who our "boy" is. **

**Anyways, thanks for reading this prologue, even though you didn't **_**have **_**to, but it will serve as something important later on, you might know what "that" is as well.**

**Now you can immediately go to the first chapter from here if you want to and I hope I did well!**

**Thanks and please wait for my next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 1: The Card Thief

**Hey everyone and welcome back to the first "official" chapter of ParaZeal! **

**If you didn't see the prologue; that's absolutely fine, there may be confusion in the upcoming chapters if you didn't do so, but you can go back to it any time so that's great!**

**This storyline will be vastly different, but with familiarity mixed in as well and I hope you all enjoy the chapter!**

***WARNING, THIS AUTHOR WILL NOT TAKE CREDIT FOR ANY CHARACTERS, PLOT, LOCATIONS, AND ANYTHING FROM THE ORIGINAL ZEXAL SERIES. THANK YOU***

**Me: Dam…**

***Ch1: The Card Thief***

"Hey Carly, are you working today?" Kotori Mizuki asked her friend through the D-gazer.

She walked through the sunny trail from school and the wind blew her short green hair as she adjusted her D-gazer onto her ear. Today, she was wearing her school uniform of a white sleeveless top and a pink miniskirt followed by black knee-length stockings and a pair of brown shoes.

"Yeah, are you done with school?" her friend said. "It would be awesome if you came by; I've got something to show you!"

"Sure, I was about to ask you that, well I'll see you soon!" she took off her device and placed it into her bag that slung over her shoulder.

_I wonder what it is, _she thought to herself, but she shrugged it off.

Knowing Carly, who loves Duel Monsters as much as Yuma, it must be some kind of card or new design of D-pad. D-pads and D-gazers are unique that they were exclusively made in Heartland, instead of Kaibacorp's Duel Disk, which are mainly used in Neo Domino City and other international locations.

In Heartland, D-gazers serve as a device that can be used for telecommunication, music player, and most importantly AR vision, which is Augmented Reality. The use of AR was devised by Mr. Heartland (the mayor) himself to enhance duels to a new level where duels take on the feeling of reality, but no real damage though of course.

D-pads serve as a method of research and surfing the web, as well as the most important part of dueling, which is the ability to duel.

Kotori came upon the store that Carly works at. Known as CCP Merchandise or Children's Card Play is a branch franchise of Kaibacorp that currently is the official card game in most countries including Heartland.

She pushed through the door, causing the bell above her to ring, signaling for the employee to respond.

"Hello, how may I help yo- Kotori!" was the familiar voice from behind the counter.

"Carly, how's it going?" she smiled.

"Great! Oh, yeah I've got that "something" to show you," said Carly with a big smile and began digging below the counter.

Carly is short for her age of seventeen years at only five feet and always has troubles when regarding situations when she needs something from high places. She sports long brown hair, blue eyes, and always wears her worker's hat and uniform, even outside of the store.

The store, like any other CCP store, is basically a card store with displays, structure decks, booster packs, and dueling gear.

"Here it is," she returned from her search. "Isn't it great?"

Kotori looked down at what appeared to be a normal looking card and if her memory serves her right, it was a green coated Spell card.

"What's so great about a card?" her face expressing disinterest.

"Because it's one of a kind," she said. "I've checked every single card list in the world and never have I seen _this_."

"Really?" as she looked back down.

The design was of a humanlike figure in the middle with a crystal heart on its chest. Just then, the doorbell rang, signaling a customer.

They both turned their heads to the door and stood frozen in fear at what had come in. It appeared to be some person, but his head was covered by a dark purple hood and a strange shaped mask. His entire body was covered by a dark purple robe and a D-pad was attached to his left arm.

"May I help you?" Carly attempted to speak to the person.

"Do you happen to have a card?" his voice had a lisp.

"Well, which one are you looking for?" her voice was trembling.

_There is definitely something odd about this guy, _Kotori thought.

He looked around the store and walked towards the counter where the girls were at. Kotori immediately backed away as if he was going to snatch her.

"This one," his finger was pointed to the card Carly had shown me.

"I'm sorry, but this one is not for sale," replied Carly as she slid the card back away from the guy, but he had faster reflexes.

"No!" she screamed as he snatched it away and quickly took off through the door.

Kotori didn't know what to do, but something had to be done or else the card would be stolen forever and what she hated the most was when a friend was upset.

"I'll get it back for you," she said, but weakly.

"Are you sure, what can you do?"

"I've got this," placing her hand on her D-pad. "I'll duel it back from him."

"But what if he's some kind of rapist," she said as her eyes teared up. "You're not that good."

Kotori bit her teeth as she knew that her dueling skills were not great, but what else was she supposed to do? She was always the damsel in distress and Yuma always came to her rescue, so this time she had to do _something._

"No, I can do it plus," she stopped, and then said. "What else would I need a deck for?"

As she exited the store, she saw a glimpse of the hooded guy running up the hill she came from and gave chase, but also a difficult one at that.

She gasped as she was on pursuit and saw that the guy was slowing down, probably from all the running too, but he still had distance between her, so she needed to speed up.

_I didn't do those mile runs at school for nothing, _she told herself and went at a full sprint. She caught up with him when he stopped to what appeared to be a dead end.

"Give…that card…back," she huffed to gain air.

"Why should I?" he snapped.

Kotori didn't know exactly what to say back, but when it came time to be serious, she would be scary and Yuma more than anyone else would know that.

"You better return that card, or you'll regret it," she exclaimed.

However; the guy remained silent after her threat. Maybe she did scare him into giving the card back? But her hopes were crushed when he busted out laughing in a very sinister way.

"Do you expect me to give this back after a threat?" he mocked. "Prove it."

_No, what am I supposed to do?_ She thought. _I guess I have no choice but to duel him._

She reached into her bag and pulled out a folded red D-pad which she attached to her left arm. The device activated and unfolded, revealing the card slots with lights flashing.

"D-pad, set," she said and her D-pad's touch screen turned on and deck automatically shuffled inside the slot.

"D-gazer is set," she tried and attached her gazer onto her left eye. It was red in color and had orange lenses.

In reality, this was her first _real _duel; the others were barely for Yuma's benefit as he loved dueling, even though his skills were better than her, he still needed practice.

"Very well then, I accept your challenge," his D-pad functioned similarly as well except its color was blue and his D-gazer was dark purple, just like his outfit. He was ready with a creepy smile.

"Augmented duel reality link established," the area around the two was encased in numbers and any objects that were in the way vanished. This was AR vision.

"Duel!" both exclaimed.

**Kotori: 4000**

**Hooded Guy: 4000**

"I'll take the first turn, draw." He said.

"You're so impolite, it should be the man who lets the lady go first," Kotori barked.

"What," he was confused. "You should be well aware of the situation you are in as well."

_What a loser, _she thought. _But he's right; I don't know how skilled he is compared to me._

"I set this monster face down in defense position and end my turn with one face down," he concluded.

_Alright! _It was Kotori's turn and she is going to win or at least hope to win.

"Okay, I draw," she said.

She looked through her hand of six cards, reading each description to see which was most helpful, but it all seemed like gibberish to her, so she picked one out.

"I summon…Winda, Priestess of Gusto (2/1000/600) in attack position."

With that, a greenish wind whirled in a gust until a young green haired girl with a white scepter.

"Since the whole game is about attacking, I attack your face down with Winda!" Kotori ordered.

The girl flew up high and pointed her scepter at the face down card which was rushed by wind and flipped the face up card, revealing an Armed Ninja (1/300/300) which was then destroyed.

The hooded guy grunted, "Nice start, but it won't be for long."

"Then, I'll end my turn." Kotori said excitedly. Destroying his monster was something she accomplished and made her happy.

_So, this is what dueling feels like, _she smiled.

"First, I'll play my Marauding Captain (3/1200/400) in attack mode." He said.

A man in armor with two blades appeared. "And thanks to his ability, if he is normal summoned, I can special summon another monster from my hand."

"What?" Kotori was confused.

"That's right, come forth; Chiron the Mage (4/1800/100)," he sneered.

Chiron the Mage appeared as a centaur with the torso of a man in armor and a body of a horse, he wielded a scepter as well.

"My captain attacks your priestess!"

The armored man sped towards the young girl who was now was frightened, but her scream was too late and she became crushed pixels.

"No, Winda!" Kotori screamed, but the damage to her life points restrained her scream as well.

**Kotori: 3800**

**Hooded guy: 4000**

"We're not done yet, Chiron attacks you directly," he declared with inhuman intent.

This time the centaur raised it staff and blasted a beam that hit Kotori square in the stomach, causing her to kneel over.

**Kotori: 2000**

**Hooded guy: 4000**

_That feeling, it wasn't pain…but the AR vision makes it seem real._

The hooded guy laughed, "My, this is going to be easier than I thought and my boss will be pleased to see that my mission was a success!"

"Kotori, you need to do Kattobingu!"

_That voice and that saying, there is only one person. _She turned around and her eyes teared up.

"Yuma!"

There standing behind her was the one person she wanted to see and hear at this time of need. Yuma was smiling his usual carefree self and was giving her a thumbs-up. Stand next to him were Tetsuo Takeda and Ryoga Kamishiro, her other friends she cared about.

"If you're going to beat this creep, you need to feel the flow, you know what I mean?" encouraged Yuma.

Kotori couldn't respond because she was too happy to see them, which was strange because she always sees them. She looked to the other two, who nodded in support. She turned around and smiled.

"What is this stupid gathering of losers, you're here to lose to me as well?" snapped the guy.

"No, and in fact, I'm going to crush you for treating a girl like this, you idiot!" she snapped back.

Yuma flinched but laughed, "Kotori is so scary when she gets angry."

"I feel sorry for this guy already," Tetsuo added.

"Enough, the duel is still going and we all know _who _has the upper hand at the moment," the hooded guy reminded them. "And it will end with your loss!"

***End…***

**The end to the first chapter and an interesting one at that, I suppose. For Kotori's deck I chose the Gusto archetype because it seemed to fit her with the green and birds because of her name meaning "little bird".**

**The hooded guy will be part of a bigger role and it will be up to Yuma and his friends to stop them.**

**Thanks for reading this chapter and I hope you enjoyed it.**

**Preview for next chapter: Kotori is pushed up against a wall with only 2000 life points and no cards on the field. Will the support of her friends overcome this challenge? Find out on the next chapter! Chapter 2: The Card Thief Part 2!**


	3. Chapter 2: The Card Thief Part 2

**Here it is! I changed the title of this chapter because I couldn't fit the school part into this chapter! Sorry!**

***Chapter 2: The Card Thief Part 2***

It was around 5:00pm; with the sun setting around the two duelists locked in a duel. One was undoubtedly smiling underneath his mask and the other was clenching her teeth as she knew this would be a difficult situation to escape from. But all hope was not lost, yet.

**Kotori: 2000**

**Hooded guy: 4000**

"According to the description," Kotori raised her Winda card. "When this card is destroyed, I can special summon a Gusto tuner monster from my deck." As she said this, her deck shuffled out a single card which was to be special summoned to the field.

"I summon Gusto Gulldo (LV 3/ATK 500/DEF 500) in attack mode."

A greenish wind enveloped the field and when it subsided, an armored green bird was left in its place. The hooded guy, with nothing else to do, claimed the end of his turn.

"Alright Kotori!" cheered Yuma. "I taught her those skills."

Tetsuo chuckled, "Yeah right, the last time you practiced with me, you barely knew what Gagaga Magician's effect did."

This prompted Yuma to raise a fist at his friend and Tetsuo took a stance as if he was about counter any action Yuma was about to make.

Ryoga intervened, "Knock it off you two, Kotori is still in a bind."

"Oh yeah, you can do it Kotori!" both Yuma and Tetsuo cheered. She smiled from the support from her friends and drew her card.

_Let's see…ah! _She smirked.

"What's so funny," the hooded guy added. "Have you gone insane from your situation?"

"Nope, but I'm about to put you in your place!" she swiped her card. "If I remember correctly; I can release a weaker monster for a stronger one."

A cloud-like hole appeared before them and the Gusto Gulldo morphed into a cluster of green energy which then dived into the swirling hole. The effect was a bright light that erupted from the crater.

"By releasing Gusto Gulldo," she continued. "I can tribute summon my Windaar, Sage of Gusto (LV 6/ATK 2000/DEF 1000)."

The bright light soon dimmed down and revealed a green haired man wearing a light brown hooded cape. He was wielding a white scythe that had electrical currents running through it. Kotori looked up at the man and smiled, this monster would help her get through this predicament.

"Windaar, destroy his Chiron the Mage!"

With that command, the sage vanished with a trace of electricity and appeared right before the centaur, which flinched in surprise. Windaar slashed the monster with an electrical swing and left it exploded into shards of pixels.

**Kotori: 2000**

**Hooded guy: 3800**

"Damn you, but that isn't eno—" was the hood's response, but he was interrupted.

"If it destroys…um," she glanced back to her card description. "Your monster, then I can special summon a LV3 or lower Gusto monster from my grave in defense mode!"

Once again, the swirling portal of light appeared, but this time a familiar green energy flew out and formed the previously released Gusto Gulldo (DEF 500).

"Great move Kotori!" her friends encouraged.

"And…um," she sorted through her hand. "I guess I'll lay this face down card to be safe."

A cluster of yellow pixels formed behind the sage and bird, before becoming a reverse card.

The hooded guy laughed, "You were lucky for bringing out an offensive monster, but now it's my turn!"

This time, the Marauding Captain morphed into yellow energy and dived into the portal as well. The eruption resulted in long blonde haired man clad in silver armor and green cape.

"By releasing my captain, I tribute summon, Freed the Matchless General (LV 5/ATK 2300/DEF 1700)!"

Kotori grimaced, as she saw a monster with more attack points than her strongest on the field, this was worse than before. She frowned when he started chuckling.

"Before I make my attack, I use Giant Trunade to send both our Spells and Traps to our hands."

"No, then my trap is—"

"That's right, you can't counter my attacks!" he scoffed.

A great wind swept up the field, causing the duelists to cover their eyes as it blew the reversed cards back to their respective owner's hands.

"No, Kotori!" Yuma shouted. "That's some dirty trick you pulled!"

"This is bad, really bad!" Tetsuo grunted.

Ryoga Kamishiro was the only one who remained calm during this time. He never expressed emotions of dread or excitement when in duels and always kept his cool; that's why his friends always counted on him for advice and support.

"Now then, attack the sage!" the hooded guy ordered. The general placed his hand on his hilt and swung the blade that created a slash of razor winds. Windaar was destroyed almost instantly.

**Kotori: 1700**

**Hooded guy: 3800**

Kotori fell to her knees. Her strongest monster was destroyed and in duel monsters, that means you have already lost the duel, especially if your opponent had a way stronger monster as well. The hooded stranger noticed her lack of confidence as well.

"Look at the lack of energy left," hoods added. "Do you give up now? I see this duel as pointless."

_No! If she gave up now, then she would be the damsel in distress again!_ She thought, frowning at the thought of being useless.

"Don't give up, you can do it!" Yuma shouted. "You're not feeling the flow!"

"What's that?" laughed hoods. "Some dumb motto for you?"

"No."

Hoods turned back to Kotori who got back up. She couldn't give up now, her friend's card was at stake here and losing to this creep would be so disappointing, especially with her friends watching.

"Well, then let's see what you've got," he felt satisfaction. _This girl may not be easy to get rid of, but her situation is not one that will be simple to escape from, _he thought. _Especially since he had Sakuretsu Armor as his trap._

"Draw!" she swiped her new card and grunted. _Can't use this yet!_

"You think you got a good card, huh?" hoods noticed Kotori's sudden change in expression.

"I won't lose to you just yet!" with that, she played a card. "I summon Gusto Codor!"

A greenish-white bird appeared with a helmet and torso armor (LV 3/ATK 1000/DEF 400).

"But you still have less attack than me, and it was foolish of you to play that in attack position," he pointed out. "You could have protected your life points a bit longer, but oh well, makes this go by faster."

_That's right, why did I do that, what a stupid move! _She face palmed like she made the most idiotic mistake in the world.

She turned to her friends, "Sorry guys…"

"But, but Kattobingu…" Yuma went on.

"Damn! You did well Kotori, I'm surprised," Tetsuo tried to make the situation better, but it didn't work as she frowned even more.

"Not yet," was Ryoga's comment.

"What do you mean?" Tetsuo was confused.

"Look at her monsters closely," Shark pointed out. "Both are LV3."

Kotori examined her cards, "But I don't recall having any Rank 3 Xyz monsters."

"That's not what I meant; you have another type of card that might help you win."

Kotori was confused, what other cards does she have in the extra deck besides Xyz's, unless… _That's right!_

"You're talking about my Synchro monsters?" she bursted out and Ryoga nodded in response.

"That's right!" Yuma jumped up as high as he can. "Kattobingu, I knew she would win!"

The female duelist looked through her extra deck and noticed that there _was _a card that would work. Synchro monsters are different from Xyz's in that they are special summoned by adding the levels of two monsters. While Xyz was by having two of the same level to special summon a monster with the same Rank.

"Can we get this over with," hoods clutched his stomach. "Your friendship _bonding _is making me sick."

"You bet, and it's the power _of_ friendship that will get me through this," she assured him. "As Yuma always says, get set to get decked!"

"That's what I'm talking about!" Yuma jumped again for no reason, but left Kotori smiling. What she loved about him was his determination and not giving up, which would fuel her for this duel.

"If I got this right," Kotori looked at the white coated card. "I will tune my Gusto Gulldo with my Gusto Codor for a Synchro Summon!"

Although he didn't want to admit it, hoods clenched his fists in concern because he didn't know what was going to happen.

Suddenly, Gusto Gulldo flew up into the air and exploded into a set of three green rings. The other bird, Codor passed through them. A line shot through it and erupted in a bright light. For some reason Kotori chanted as if she was being possessed:

"_Young deity of the wind's guardian protects us with your breeze of hope! Synchro Summon! Help us! Daigusto Sphreez!_

As the light faded, a long green-red haired girl with a gold circlet on her forehead appeared. She wore green clothing with pieces of armor on her shoulders and torso. Her weapon was a black staff with a blue jewel (LV 6/ATK 2000/DEF 1300).

Ryoga grinned, _I've heard that these cards were used a long time ago and it looks like they haven't lost their touch._

"Wow, oh my god Kotori!" Yuma jumped once again. "That was awesome!"

"Except for the lame chant," Tetsuo chuckled, prompting the girl to pout. But their admiration was cut short by laughter from the other side.

"Seriously, that's all you got?" hoods exclaimed. "It _still _has less attack than my General."

Kotori grinned, "That's not all, though."

"What?"

"When this card is synchro summoned, I can add 1 Gusto monster from my graveyard to my hand and I pick…Winda, Priestess of Gusto."

_I just need to stall him until I get everything ready… _she thought.

"One face down, and turn end."

The opponent drew and played his card, "D.D. Warrior Lady in defense mode!"

A blonde haired woman wearing black jumpsuit armor and a blade was summoned (LV4/1500/1600).

"General Freed attacks your Daigusto Sphreez!"

Kotori smiled just as the general struck his sword at the wind girl there was a big eruption of wind and energy. When the debris subsided Sphreez was still intact.

"What," hoods was confused. "Why wasn't it destroyed?"

"That's because her effect makes it so that she can't be destroyed by battle, also…"

**Kotori: 1400**

**Hooded guy: 3500**

"Why did my life points decrease as well?"

"Her other effect; battle damage to me is also inflicted onto you!" smirked Kotori.

"Dammit, I'll end my turn then," he grunted. _But next turn you'll fall victim to my plans._

Yuma and Tetsuo cheered, "Way to go Kotori!"

The female duelist drew her next card as she read the descriptions on each card she had, carefully analyzing for a good strategy.

"I summon Winda, Priestess of Gusto from my hand!"

The familiar young girl with the white scepter appeared once again (LV2/ATK1000/DEF600).

"And say goodbye to your general because I activate Contact with Gusto!" she said with confidence. "By targeting 2 Gusto monsters in my graveyard and shuffling them into my deck, I can destroy 1 monster you control!"

As she said this, two cards of Gusto Gulldo and Windaar, Sage of Gusto were shuffled into her deck. A bolt of electricity raged towards Freed the Matchless General to be destroyed.

"Not so fast, my general has a special ability," countered hoods. "When a spell card is targeted at him, I can negate and destroy it!"

"What?"

The bolt of electricity reached its destination but as it struck the target, it bounced off the armor of the general and disappeared.

"B-but I can still attack your Warrior Lady, go Sphreez!

The wind deity raised her wand and waved it, releasing a green ball of wind energy that was directed towards the blonde woman. There was a big explosion from the impact.

_Good, that should have gotten rid of his monster! Huh?_

Kotori couldn't believe her eyes as not only was the warrior lady still alive and well, but her own Sphreez was emitting red lights and clutching her stomach in pain. The warrior lady, now clad in strange looking armor attacked the wind deity and destroyed her.

"What, how is that possible?" screamed Kotori.

"You forgot I had a trap!" hoods waved his hand and the trap flipped up. "Sakuretsu Armor, your attacking monster was destroyed."

She looked through her hand and hoped for the best by activating her only trap card.

"I use Spiritual Wind Art- Miyabi!"

Winda was enveloped in a seal like design that flowed around her until she became an orb of light that exploded out of the seal.

"Since your general is immune to spells, I can use my trap to send him to the bottom of your deck!"

"What?"

The orb of Miyabi flew past the warrior lady and surrounds the general. Before he could understand his fate, he too became a gust of wind and went to the bottom of hood's deck.

With nothing else for her to do, she ended her turn with one face down. Her last hope was the trap card she set _Whirlwind of Gusto. _With that she could special summon 1 Gusto monster with 1000 or less DEF from her deck as long as he controlled no monsters and had 2 Wind monsters in the graveyard.

Even her friends who couldn't do anything at the moment, hoped for their friend to somehow make a comeback in this situation.

"This is the last turn of the duel," hoods drew his card. "I play from my hand The Warrior Returning Alive!"

A spell card appeared with the image of a Marauding Captain in tattered armor with injuries, but standing while clutching his blade.

"This lets me add 1 LV4 or lower warrior type monster from my graveyard to my hand," a card from the discard slot ejected into his grasp. "Marauding Captain of course!"

The same soldier that appeared on the card and has been played earlier in the duel was returning. It definitely was the warrior returning alive (LV3/1200/DEF400).

"Due to his special ability, I can special summon my Gene-Warped Warwolf!"

Another monster entered the field, but this time, it wasn't human. It was a giant humanoid-wolf with four arms and claws the color of blood (LV4/ATK2000/DEF100). Kotori took a step back from the monstrosity that was just across from her. It licked its lips as it saw its prey.

"But he won't feast on you just yet; first, the captain will go because he is the leader!" belched hoods.

With that, the captain lunged with his blade pointed towards the defenseless girl, but she immediately countered with her face down, her last hope.

"With Whirlwind of Gusto; while I control no monsters, I can target 2 wind monsters in my graveyard and shuffle them into my deck (Winda and Codor)," she retaliated. "Then special summon 1 Gusto monster with 1000 or less DEF!"

Her deck shuffled once more and slid out a card, she took it and slammed it down onto her empty monster slot.

"Windaar, don't fail me now!"

The man with green hair and brown clothes appeared, holding his scythe proudly (LV6/ATK2000/DEF1000). The attacking captain immediately halted his movements.

"You merely escaped defeat!" growled the hooded guy in surprise. "But now I can have my D.D. Warrior Lady attack your monster!"

"Why, she has less attack," Kotori was confused.

The woman was fast. She ran at full speed and it was quite difficult to see her; Windaar searched around for her exact location, and barely managed to strike her from behind him, destroying her.

**Kotori: 1400**

**Hooded guy: 3000**

"You made a terrible mistake creep," Kotori grinned, but stopped when her opponent started to laugh.

"I activate D.D. Warrior Lady's effect," hoods held up her card. "When she is destroyed by battle, both her and the monster she battled with is banished!"

Kotori's eyes widened in disbelief as her monster was being sucked into some strange portal and disappeared, along with her last line of defense.

"Well then, let's end this," continued hoods. "Marauding Captain goes for a strike!"

The captain, now eager to complete his failed attack from last time sped towards Kotori and slashed her with a swing of his huge blade. She screamed as she fell back on her bottom, and gripping her arm.

**Kotori: 200**

**Hooded guy: 3000**

"No, Kotori!" everyone else screamed.

"It's over, Warwolf, finish her off!"

Already in an attacking stance; the monster jumped high and landed right in front of the grounded girl. With one powerful swipe, she was lifted up off her feet and fell back.

**Kotori: 0**

**Hooded guy: WINNER**

Yuma and Tetsuo immediately ran towards their friend to see if she was alright. Although she took a huge hit, it wasn't real, so she was fine. Ryoga looked to where the hooded guy was, but grunted when he saw that he had escaped.

"The card…is it safe?" Kotori grunted.

Ryoga shook his head, "Unfortunately not, but all that matters now is that you're not hurt."

She slammed her fists and swore, which surprised her friends because they never, ever heard her swear before.

"Take it easy," consoled Tetsuo, who looked to the other two guys for support.

"But…Carly's card," she tried. "I couldn't get it back; I'm such a useless person!" but she looked up when someone grabbed her hands and cupped them.

"Don't worry, I'll get them back," reassured Yuma. "He won't get away with this…"

"Yuma…" she blushed and immediately pushed him away. "But how do we do that?"

"Let's return to the card shop first," advised Ryoga. "We'll start from there."

***At the shop***

It was 8:00pm in the evening and even though it was past their curfew, the four kids entered the card store. Kotori immediately fell to her knees and put her head down, "Carly, I'm so sorry I tried my best, but couldn't get your card back, I knew it, and I'm a useless person!"

Everyone remained silent for a while and the atmosphere became extremely awkward to the point of Yuma stomping his foot on the ground.

"Come on, can't we just get the card back then?"

To everyone's astonishment, Carly smiled and knelt down in front of Kotori and placed a hand on her head, then ruffled it.

"Hey!"

Carly giggled, "Kotori, I didn't expect you to get my card back, and if you tried your best, thank you."

"Are you sure?" Kotori questioned. "Wasn't that card precious to you?"

"Of course, it was a one-of a kind card that you couldn't find anywhere else…but," she paused. "I was more worried about you getting raped so I'm glad you're okay."

Tetsuo and Yuma made barfing sounds as the two girls hugged each other, except Ryoga; who appeared to be deep in thought.

"Shouldn't you guys get going?" Carly added. "I mean, your families might be worried right now."

Everyone checked their D-gazers and nodded in agreement. Ryoga, with a small wave and nod was the first one to leave. Tetsuo readied his skateboard as Yuma and Kotori said their farewells to their store friend before leaving.

Carly grabbed her keys and bags before turning off the store lights. She scanned the store for anything out of place before locking the place up. Taking a deep breath, she looked up at the shining full moon. The stars haven't appeared yet and the city lights were bright in the distance.

There was a parking lot at the back of the store with a lone truck parked at the far end. Carly made her way towards the vehicle as quickly as she could, glance left and right as if she was being followed. She took a deep breath once she reached her truck and swiftly searched her bag for the keys. At last she located them and pulled them out. As she turned to unlock her car, a dark shadow was cast over her.

Noticing the change in brightness, she turned around. The keys made a _klinking _sound as they fell on the asphalt of the parking lot. Her eyes widened with fear as they came closer and closer…

***Unknown Location***

A strange room it was. There were lights and electricity everywhere. Computers were strewn around in the circular room and people in white lab coats were vigorously typing something into their respective touch screen keyboards.

"Sir, we have located the energy source," said one of the researchers. "It seems to be emitting from somewhere on Castel Island."

There was a pause at first, then a mild chuckle that came from the center of the circular room. Cords and electrical wires from the ceiling were hanging down above the central location. Below the cords was a large throne-like chair strewn with touch screens and various buttons of different colors that lit up.

A middle age voice replied back, "Good, then prepare the cards and the Resolvers."

"Yes sir, it will take about a few days for everything to be ready, is that acceptable?"

"Do what is needed, but I expect it to be done soon."

The individual who appears to be the commander noticed eyes gazing into him from behind. He turned around and smiled at who he saw. Standing before him were two people that he was counting on. One of them had short green hair and wore pink lensed glasses. His style of clothing was rather strange for a man, but his status covered that.

The other was a young man sporting medium length white hair with a gray-blue sweater that had a hood attached to it. His eyes were crimson colored and he was smiling as well.

"Have you distributed the cards?" asked the commanding man.

The green haired man took a bow, "Of course, Dr. Faker sir."

Dr. Faker grinned, and then turned to the white haired youth, "And what were you supposed to do again?"

The youth just smiled and ran his hand through his hair, then crossed his arms. The green haired man, angry at the youth for showing disrespect towards his master snapped at him.

"What do you think you're doing?" he nagged. "Apologize to Dr. Faker now!"

"No Heartland, it is fine," Dr. Faker intervened. "As long as he does his job, it's alright."

Heartland pouted and crossed his arms as well, then stomped away, leaving the youth behind. The youth just stood there and looked around until he saw a disturbing sight.

Dr. Faker turned to the youth, "However; if you are to interfere with my plans, I will get rid of you." With that, he returned to his original position to continue with his work.

There was no response from the youth. He just smiled and placed his hands in his pockets as if he did not care what the commander had said, but was quite curious when he noticed something peculiar behind him.

In the back of the room there was a water filled tank. Large metal cords that originated from big generators were plugged into the sides of the tank. But what was inside the tank was slightly unnerving. A young boy, probably of the age of 7 was inside the tank. His eyes were closed and there were cords that were attached to him as well.

_Sickening, _he narrowed his eyes. _Even children are involved in this._

He too walked in the direction where Heartland left and took the teleportation pad back to where he needed to be, but with a lot on his mind. Just what was Faker planning to do?

***End…***

**Preview: School is fun and everything, except for Yuma; who hates school for homework and losing in duel tests. Yuma, who is also part of the Duel Club with Tetsuo and Ryoga will have a tough time trying to win.**

**This time: It is Chapter 3: School Days! I'm not lying, this is the real deal!**

**See you soon!**


	4. Chapter 3: School Days

Before anything, I would like to thank **Tsukuyomi-chan** and **Animegirl426** for their constant support with reviews. It means so much to me that my story is actually being read and liked by some people.

Also would like to thank those two and **K.I.T.T. RIDER** for adding this story to their favorites list. And thank **Tsukuyomi-chan** and **Heavengiver16** for following my story.

Thanks **decode9**, I will hopefully write more good duels for you!

I appreciate **ZeXal Fanatic**'s input on the story as well!

And to all my **silent readers**, I thank you so much for taking your time to read this.

Here is the next chapter!

* * *

***Chapter 3: School Days***

Ring! Ring! Ring! The D-gazer was vibrating on a table in the sunlit room, next to a red D-pad and a golden pendant. 7:50am was displayed on the D-gazer's lens screen. A hand slowly crept towards the ringing device and stopped it.

A strange room it was; filled with boxes and odd objects stacked on top of each other, as well as the dust and cobwebs which settled over them due to age and lack of cleaning. The only means of light emitted through the glass pane window which shined down on a young boy stirring in a hammock.

_Thud! _Yuma Tsukumo fell out of his hammock and was lying on the ground. He crawled up to the table to check the time.

"Crap, I'm late for school!" he quickly jumped up and searched for his school uniform. "I knew I shouldn't have stayed up all night looking at my cards!"

He found his white shirt uniform on the ground and quickly changed into them while putting on his red tie that goes with it. Not forgetting his schoolbag, D-pad, D-gazer, and of course his precious deck.

Yuma slid down the pole from his attic room into a more colorful room. The room was actually supposed to be his bedroom, but he took up residence in the attic because of the memories left by his parents within it.

"Morning Akari," he ran passed his older sister before being pulled back. "I'm late, what the heck do you want?"

20 years old and self-centered, Akari is Yuma's older sister who works as a journalist for the Heartland Gazette, the main news organization in Heartland City. She sports long red hair tied in a ponytail and violet eyes. Today, she was wearing her usual clothes of a sky blue shirt topped with a black vest and orange hood. Although she is my sister, she's not really successful, hence why she still lives with grandma and I.

"Ow!" Yuma rubbed his head from the smack Akari gave him. "What was that for?"

His sister gave him a mean look, "Self-centered? Not really successful?"

Yuma put his hands over his mouth, "Oops, did I say that out loud, I'm _sorry._"

"Actually, I'm the one whose sorry for _you, _can't even get up before the bus comes and you're in middle school now, twerp."

He made a face and stuck his tongue out at her before heading out the door. Outside, the sun was shining beautifully and he took a breath of fresh air before jumping out towards the street, but he was snatched by something before doing so.

"Grandma…I'm late for the bus!" he struggled in his grandmother's grasp. She was pretty strong for an elderly lady and could get _very _scary when she was pissed off, almost as much as Kotori.

She smiled, "Yuma, what about my kiss goodbye?"

"Ugh, I don't have time for that!" he waved his arms and legs around trying to escape, but to no avail as she held him high with her broomstick on his collar.

She made a sad face, "But I won't enjoy my day without my grandson's kiss."

Yuma tried removing the broomstick off of his jacket, but her grip was too strong, "Ahhh! I've got to go, this a waste of time!" However; he soon realized he made a mistake by saying that.

"Alright then, I'll just have to teach you a lesson," she gently put her grandson down onto the pavement.

"Um, thanks?" he was about to move, when she suddenly smacked him upside the head and tripped his legs with the broom. She then pinned him down with ninja-like reflexes and stared into him with almost devil-like eyes.

"Either, I get this kiss or you will _regret _this."

He automatically gave her a smooch on the cheek and magically, she lifted him up and smiled the sweet smile she always puts up.

"Have fun at school."

_She's crazy, but I'm late! _Yuma raced through the streets and ran along the trail that led to the bus stop. They usually came around at 8:20am so he should be on time, right? He checked his D-gazer. _8:33am! No, I missed the bus; this is the third time this week! _

He had no other choice but to run to school. By bus, it would take 10 minutes and by foot (if running all the way) was 30 minutes. School starts at 8:50!

* * *

***Heartland Academy: 9:12am***

"I'm here!" Yuma pushed open his classroom door with such force that it reverberated throughout the lesson the class was currently in, causing all heads to turn in his direction.

Nobody said a word at the moment. Even Mr. Ukyo who was at the front of the room teaching stared at the late student with a straight face; Yuma couldn't tell if he was angry or glad to see him.

Yuma crept slowly towards his desk, doing his best to not interrupt the class, or so he thought. He eventually sat down and tried to pay attention.

_Spell and Trap Strategies, _he yawned. _We've been on this chapter for three whole days already._

He turned around to see Kotori taking notes vigorously. She eventually noticed his gaze and looked up, then frowned. Yuma knew this was going to be one of those Kotori lectures after class about how he needs to take responsibility, just like Akari, except even worse.

Their homeroom was a small auditorium with desks laid out in white tables for two students per desk. The left wall of the room is where the windows are and the usually where the students placed their science projects and class pets. Yuma and Kotori sat in the last two rows in the back, while Tetsuo was in the third row from the front.

Mr. Ukyo, the main instructor for class 3-A, is loved by many of his students for his gentleness and positive attitude. Even to Yuma, who is undoubtedly the worst student, he shows forgiveness and seeks to see the best in him. He has light brown hair that is stylish for a teacher and tan skin.

During break, everyone usually gathered around Yuma's desk to see his cards, or rather he invited people to do so.

"Hey Tetsuo, look at these," he laid out his cards on the surface. "I found them last night in the attic, who would have thought?"

Tetsuo, a large boy with black hair and red hat was one of Yuma's closest friends, if not his best friend. He usually wears a red shirt that's too small for his body and blue jeans, but since it was school, he wore the same uniform that all the male students do.

He scratched his head, "Cool, where did you find them?"

"Actually, they were in a box that belonged to my father," Yuma explained. "And I also found this."

He reached into his shirt and pulled out what appeared to be a gold arrow shaped object that was attached to a leather string. Along the middle of the object was a green orb.

Yuma gripped it in his hand gently, "I noticed that the box contained a letter to me from my old man, that said it belonged to me now and I should strive to never give up."

Suddenly, two hands slammed on the desk, causing Yuma to fall of his chair and the cards to scatter all over the floor. He looked up to see Kotori with a strange look in her eyes.

"Why'd you go and do that?" he grumbled. "Are you mad again?"

At that moment, she looked as if she was pissed, but then smiled, "Yuma, why were you late for class?"

Obviously, Yuma couldn't believe she would do _that _just to ask him why he was late. Sometimes, he never could understand Kotori's actions.

Kotori sighed, "Yuma, you know you're going to fail this class if this keeps up, and our study group thing isn't helping that much either."

Yuma puffed his chest out, "It doesn't matter, and I can bring those grades back up anytime!"

Tetsuo chuckled in amusement and Kotori just face palmed while shaking her head. They knew that Yuma didn't want to fail, but his lack of effort would get him a failing grade, especially after missing so much class time and not even taking notes.

The bell rang, which signaled break was over and their next class was about to start, which was also one of Yuma's favorite classes, but not so good at it as well. All the students grabbed their bags and hoarded out of the classroom, in preparation for gym.

* * *

***Gym***

P.E. or gym was usually done in the small gym of the academy because the larger one was for the upperclassmen and the smaller one for the lower years. It consisted of a pool, weight room, cardio room, locker rooms, and an outside track field.

The teacher of the gym was a former marine by the name of Lady Piggins. She was a huge muscular woman in her forties and she had red curly hair with brown eyes. Her most notable feature is her nose that is long and crooked, giving her the appearance of a witch. Surprisingly, she is one of the kindest women in school and allows the students to do anything during gym class, except for screwing around.

"Yuma, let's see what you can do today," Tetsuo challenged. "How about hurdle blocks?"

Kotori knew where this was going, and she was going to object due to what happened last time, but Yuma only laughed.

"No problem, how high?" he dusted off his shirt with a calm façade.

Tetsuo grinned, "Well, the school record was twenty-five feet."

Yuma placed his hands on his hips, "Alright, make it fifty feet!"

"Are you sure about this?" Kotori was concerned.

He only gripped his pendant, "No biggie, I'm feeling the flow and that's how I'll know."

Other students, who listened onto their conversation, were interested in watching the almost impossible feat, helped place the blocks on top of each other. This challenge would be proved impossible for little Yuma because of how the previous record breaker who was an upperclassmen and really athletic, barely made the twenty-five feet jump. And that was almost ten years ago.

Once everything was set, Yuma stepped up to the bouncing board. There were murmurs from the other classmates debating on whether he would make it or not, but doubted he would be able to do it.

Tetsuo slapped him on the back, "Alright dude, let's see it."

"Be careful," Kotori said with concern.

Yuma nodded. Then he ran as fast as he could, jumped on the bouncing board, which propelled him up as high as he could get. All the students looked up with their mouths open, but it was unclear if they were in awe or they just couldn't believe he would attempt that.

"KATTOBINGU!" the young boy sailed across the air, his hands outstretched towards the sky. The only thing he believed at that moment was to go up.

_Boom! _The flying child slammed flat onto the twentieth block and slid down all the way to the ground. There was a moment of silence, until someone broke out laughing and everyone else joined in, except Kotori, who ran towards Yuma in concern.

"Yuma are you okay?" she nudged the unmoving boy. "Hello, Yuma?"

She was relieved when he stirred, and immediately jumped back to his feet. But he looked around at all the smiling kids wondering what the funny was.

"Did I make it?" he crossed his arms with cocky confidence.

"Um…well," Kotori started, but was interrupted by Tetsuo.

"Dude that was absolute fail!" he laughed while clutching his stomach. Kotori shot a glance at him and he stopped immediately.

"You did your best and that's what counts," Kotori reassured her friend. "I'm glad you're not hurt."

Yuma shook his head, "But I didn't make it, damn!" he slammed his fist on the ground.

The last bell of the day rang and all students quickly filed out of the gymnasium, eager to go home for the day. Yuma and Tetsuo on the other hand, needed to stay after school for the Duel Club.

* * *

***Duel Club***

The duel club was founded by Ryoga Kamishiro, one of the most feared students at school for his delinquent status and cool personality that most of the female students drool over. As a duelist, he is also respected in the dueling community as one of the most skilled duelists in Heartland, even being in the top ten for the National Duel Ceremonies that is held every year in Neo Domino City.

Ryoga goes by the name of Shark due to his deck them being mostly aquatic and shark creatures. He sports dark purple hair in the shape of tentacles hanging down, dark blue eyes, and pale skin. Although Shark is a celebrity in his own right and is an upperclassman, he prefers hanging out with Yuma Tsukumo and Tetsuo Takeda, his friends. To them, he acts as a big brother figure, giving them advice and solving their life problems.

Although Shark is admired by many, his harsh tactics in dueling lead to many problems with his opponents. The rule of the duel club was that anyone who cheated, played tricks, or did not follow the code of respect, would have to duel Shark. The loser has to give up their deck and immediately remove themselves from Shark's presence. This was the one thing Yuma couldn't agree with.

"There's Shark!" Yuma and Tetsuo ran towards their other friend, who was currently in the middle of a duel with another club member.

Surrounded by many spectators who were members and guests alike, the two duelists were locked in a great game. A duel involving the great Shark would definitely mean an impressive display of skill and not to be missed.

"You're quite impressive," smiled the purpled haired celebrity. "I didn't expect you to last this long."

The other; short brown haired underclassmen, expressed frustration in response to the situation he was in. Not many people faced Shark and could drag the duel on for this long, so he was content with himself, but he would due to the tricks he still held up his sleeve.

"And you as well," he pushed up his glasses. "But I'm not done yet."

**Shark: 3200**

**Tokunosuke: 2900**

On Shark's side of the field; there was a large blue shark with a blade attached to its head known as Big Jaws (LV 3/ATK 1800/DEF 300) and no face down cards.

On the other hand, Tokunosuke controlled one face down defense monster and one face down card. It was unclear who would be the victor at this point, but enough to declare that Tokunosuke had the upper hand.

Tokunosuke took his turn. "My draw," he sneered. "I flip summon my face down monster!" The face down monster revealed a skeletal creature with red horns and a red orb, known as Chewbone (LV 3/ATK 300/ DEF 300).

Shark grinned, "But how does that do anything?"

"Quite a bit," he laughed. "Because when Chewbone is flipped face up, three Chewbone Jr. Tokens are special summoned to your side of the field in defense positions!"

With that, the ground besides the Big Jaws opened up and bones assembled to create three miniature versions of what appeared to be the original Chewbone (LV 1/ ATK 100/ DEF 100).

"Why would you send more monsters to me?" asked Shark. "You seem to be in more of a tight spot, than me."

Tokunosuke laughed hysterically, "Now that I completely locked your field with weak Tokens, you can't summon stronger monsters!"

Shark smirked, "Are you so sure about that?"

"What?"

"Just because a monster is weak doesn't mean that they are useless."

"Hmph, we'll see about that," grumbled Tokunosuke. "I summon one monster in face down defense mode, but we're not done yet, I activate Book of Taiyou!"

The face down card automatically flipped up and an undead orangutan materialized (LV 4/ATK 800/ DEF 1600).

"Due to Flipangutan's effect, when he's flipped up: one monster on your side of the field switches to attack mode, and I pick your Chewbone Jr. Token!"

The ape raised its arms and did some strange dance, which forced the skeletal creature on Shark's field to stand up.

"Now, that it's vulnerable for attack," Tokunosuke continued. "I'll have him attack your token!"

Shark raised an eyebrow as the monkey leaped up and performed a dive kick onto one of the tokens, scattering the bones before they were crushed pixels.

**Shark: 2500**

**Tokunosuke: 2900**

"See, weak monsters are so easy to get rid of!" Tokunosuke belched. "Now I'll end my turn."

Shark however, was not fazed by the underclassman's feeble attempts and took his draw. He smirked at his card, "I'll show you why I'm a top ranking duelist." The pro duelist then made his move, "I summon my Needle Sunfish in attack mode!"

Yellow pixels gathered to form a dark gray fish that floated down to join it's aquatic counterpart, paying no heed to the two skeletal creatures below (LV 3/ATK 1500/ DEF 100).

Tokunosuke narrowed his eyes, "So?"

"I'm not finished yet," Shark went on. "Since both Big Jaws and Needle Sunfish are LV 3, you might already know what this means."

It took a few moments for Tokunosuke to register, but the truth hit him hard, "Then that means… oh no!"

"Oh yes! I create an Overlay network with these two Xyz monsters!" As he said this, a large swirling portal appeared before the two duelists and the two mentioned monsters became orbs of blue light that descended into the hole. "Xyz summon! Come on out, Black Ray Lancer!"

The portal erupted into an explosion of different colors that lit up the area around the AR vision field. As the light subsided, in its place was a black armored creature with large fin-like wings. There were purple spikes sprouting from its body and it wielded a large red double bladed spear (Rank 3/ATK 2100/DEF 600/Xyz 2).

All the students looked up in awe at the fearsome looking creature that Shark had summoned. Even Yuma and Tetsuo had their mouths open to take in the sight of the monster, except for Tokunosuke who seemed to realize the situation he was in now.

"Now I'll target your Flipangutan for attack, go, Blackspear!" Shark commanded. The armored monster charged its weapon with a red light before thrusting it out and releasing a beam of crimson colored energy towards the dancing ape.

"Not so fast," Tokunosuke countered. "I play from my hand the quick spell: Book of Moon, which sets your Black Ray Lancer!" Just before the energy beam hit, a blue book opened up and blocked the attack at the same time forcing the creature to disappear into a face down card.

"Nice counter, I didn't expect that."

Tokunosuke laughed, "I'm not some pushover duelist, so don't underestimate me!"

Shark went along with it, "Great, my turn's over then."

Tokunosuke drew his next card, which of course was another face down monster, and then he activated his face down trap, Coffin Seller.

"Each time your monster goes to the graveyard, you take 300 points of damage," he adjusted his glasses. "Like this! I'll play the spell card: Book of Flip, which flips my Flipangutan face down once more!" The monkey disappeared and switched into a reversed card. "I'm not done, yet! I flip it face up and activate its effect, another token is switched to attack mode!"

Many members of the duel club were yawning as they saw the cards flip for another time since the beginning of the duel, except for Yuma, who was gazing at everything and trying to take it all in.

This was Tokunosuke's chance. "I attack your Chewbone token with my own Chewbone!" The skeletal creature ran towards its smaller counterpart. The latter, which seemed to express fear, tried to escape, but was smashed to pieces.

**Shark: 2300**

**Tokunosuke: 2900**

"That's not all! Due to Coffin Seller, you take 300 points of damage for the destroyed token!" As he pointed this out, the trap card shot a dark aura which engulfed the purple haired duelist.

**Shark: 2000**

**Tokunosuke: 2900**

Shark however, displayed no signs of discomfort from the attack and instead just kept a straight face, staring down at his opponent.

Tokunosuke was still not finished, "Flipangutan attacks your face down Lancer!" he ordered. This time, the undead monkey leaped up and landed in front of the face down card. It lifted its fists and smashed the face down card to pieces.

Tokunosuke laughed maniacally, "Now I destroyed your strongest monster! You are going to lose! Let's see what you do next!" With that, he ended his turn with a large grin.

Shark drew his card and grinned, "Looks like practice is over!" He swiped the new card onto the slot, "I knew you'd destroy my Lancer, so I summon my Skull Kraken in attack mode!" As he played his card, a large dark gray skull with bone tentacles and needle teeth appeared (LV 3/ATK 600/DEF 1600).

"But that's not enough to destroy my Flipangutan!" Tokunosuke jeered. "And even if you destroyed my Chewbone, it won't make a difference!"

"I'm not done yet," Shark said calmly, "I also activate my Surface spell card, which lets me special summon 1 LV 3 or lower fish monster from my graveyard in defense mode! So say hello to my Big Jaws!" Water surged from beneath the field and revived the blue shark.

Tokunosuke didn't understand, "What's that supposed to do?"

"I'll show you," Shark assured him. "With that, I construct an Overlay network with these two Xyz monsters!"

People in the crowd gasped, "Again, what's he planning this time?"

Even Tokunosuke, who thought he had gained the upper hand, was dumbfounded by these turn of events.

The swirling vortex appeared once more and the two creatures dived into the portal, resulting in a massive explosion as Shark shouted, "Xyz summon! Let's go, Submersible Carrier Aero Shark!" Afterwards, a large orange aircraft attached to two sharks, was on the field, two orbs of energy flowed around it (Rank 3/ATK 1900/DEF 1000/Xyz 2).

"Wow! Shark really is the real deal," everyone exclaimed.

"But you still won't be able to take out the rest of my life points!" growled Tokunosuke. He glanced at his face down defense monster and grinned. _Even if he did destroy my monsters, my Man Eater Bug will take out the Aero Shark. _

Shark continued, "Now I use, Armored Xyz!" He raised a green spell card and then said, "With this, I target a Xyz monster in my graveyard and equip it to my Aero Shark, Black Ray Lancer!"

Tokunosuke widened his eyes in disbelief as the Black Ray Lancer appeared and attached itself to the Aero Shark, "What, but how?"

"It's far from finished," Shark said. "Because Armored Xyz's effect changes Aero Shark's name, ATK, DEF, and effect to the same as Black Ray Lancer's." The mechanical sharks were encased in a dark aura and grew larger (ATK 1900 – 2100).

"That still doesn't make a difference!" Tokunosuke shrieked.

"Let's see about that," said Shark, cutting him off. "Aero Shark attacks your Flipangutan!"

The flying sharks opened their mouths and torpedoes were administered through them, as it flew in close, the missiles were launched. The undead orangutan shielded its body, but the impact was too great for it to survive.

**Shark: 2000**

**Tokunosuke: 1600**

"Hehe, I'm still here," Tokunosuke mused. "That was definitely a lucky attack but…_why are you grinning?"_

Across from him, Shark was grinning as if he had already won and then waved his hand, "Armored Xyz has another effect."

Tokunosuke's eyes and mouth both reached widths that were impossible for normal human beings' standards, "What do you mean?"

"After attacking, I can send the equipped Lancer to the graveyard and attack once more!"

"Then, that means…"

"You know exactly what that means," Shark raised his arm. "Aero Shark, let's end this with one more attack and this time, take out his Chewbone!" As he said this, the airborne monster flew up high and released another barrage of torpedoes at the skeletal creature. The weak thing, tried running away with its short legs, but was caught in the explosion. Tokunosuke, who was also nearby was blown away by the impact and was heard screaming until he hit the floor.

**Shark: *WINNER***

**Tokunosuke: 0**

Everyone was silent at that moment as the numbers surrounding the entire area began appearing and restoring the scene back to the real world. It was broken by the sudden cheer of all the people.

"Shark, Shark, Shark!"

Many people (especially females) all went over to surround Shark with congratulatory greetings and compliments, but instead of paying any attention to them, he walked over to Tokunosuke, who lying on the ground with his cards scattered about. He looked up at Shark who stood over him with an evil smile.

"No, this is the last thing I've got!" screeched the frightened kid. "If you take my cards away, then I'll have nothing!"

Shark's face was calm and serious, "But it's what you deserve for playing tricks on other duelists, you scumbag." All the duel club members shouted out in agreement, "The duel club rules cannot be negotiated, if you lose to Shark, you give up your deck!"

Tokunosuke looked around him at all of the students who agreed to Shark's rules. He felt a sudden pain in his heart, the same one he felt many years ago when he was tricked by the bullies he dueled against. The short kid backed away and ran out of the doors, prompting all of the students to cheer that the trickster had left.

Yuma looked back to where the kid had fled, _Shark, you didn't have to go that far._ He turned to where the kids were praising their hero and turned back. He decided to follow Tokunosuke outside to see if he was alright.

"Hey, where are you going?" Tetsuo nudged him.

"I have to tell Tokunosuke that he did great!" smiled Yuma and ran outside as well. As he did this Shark looked to where Yuma had left and frowned.

* * *

***Outside the Duel Club***

It was sunset outside and the tree leaves falling signaled the coming of autumn. Yuma looked left and right for the short kid, but couldn't seem to find him.

_Where did he go? _He wondered.

Yuma wandered towards the back of the duel club complex which was blocked of by a chain fence. There was a _faculty only_ sign attached to the gate, but it was crooked and worn out. There were vines of ivy coursing through the fence gaps and age grew rust on the steel.

Although students of the academy new about this spot, nobody has tried to go through it because no one was really interested in it at all. Mr. Ukyo always said that this path led to the old school grounds for the underclassmen before the new one was built and the underclassmen inherited the old upperclassmen's grounds.

_Snap. _

Yuma turned around to see what caused the sound, but there was nothing behind him. He turned back and scanned the area, but shrugged it off. He grabbed the gate handle and pulled it down. It wouldn't budge.

_Snap. Pat. Pat. Pat._

He glanced back again. Nothing. What was that sound? He turned his attention to the handle and pushed it again, this time with a little bit more strength. The latch made a creaking sound and fell off. The gate slowly opened up as Yuma patted his hands with a grin of accomplishment.

_Purr. _

He froze. Something was brushing up against his legs. He slowly cocked his head down to see what was at his feet and was surprised.

_A cat? _He slowly knelt down and examined the feline. It was black with green eyes and pink nose, but what intrigued Yuma was the collar it had around its neck. He moved his hand gently towards its head to pet it when it suddenly jumped back.

_Hiss! _Yuma fell back as it raised its fur and sprinted through the open gate and into one of the rundown buildings just up ahead. His heart was beating really fast and he wiped the sweat that had collected from on his forehead.

_Jeez! It didn't have to do that. _He thought. At this point, he had completely forgotten about Tokunosuke and Shark's victory. You could say _curiosity killed the cat_. He slowly approached the gate and stood there, wary of going through as if he entered, he would be sent to a totally different location. As he gulped, he took a step into the boundaries of the abandoned school grounds and as he was about to take another step, his D-gazer rang, causing him to yelp in surprise.

"Oh, it's Tetsuo," Yuma sighed in relief. "What's up?"

"Dude, you're gonna miss the duels," he reminded Yuma. "We're about to start."

Yuma grew excited, "That's right! Which means I'm gonna duel as well, be right there!" Without a second thought about where he had just stumbled upon, Yuma quickly rushed back to the club, not knowing he was actually being watched the whole time.

From atop an abandoned building, green eyes followed Yuma as he explored the depths of the rundown school grounds. A figure knelt down to stroke the fur of a black cat and it purred back in affection. The figure returned its gaze back to the young boy, who was running back the other way, and licked its lips.

* * *

***End***

That's it for this chapter; I hope it was worth it. Also, I'm accepting **MINOR OCs** for my story, form is below and **PM** them please:

**Name**

**Age**

**Personality**

**Appearance**

**Deck (PM me the list as well)**

**Resolve (Problems they want to fix in their lives. For example poverty, illness, or those involving loved ones)**

Preview: Chapter 4: A Field Trip?

It's the moment Yuma has been waiting for: It's time to duel! But who is his dueling partner? Also, Mr. Ukyo announces a class field trip in a week. They will take a ride on the S.S.D., a dueling cruise ship to Castel Island, a nature reserve on the outskirts of Heartland City. Yuma is pumped of course! Until next time!

**WARNING: All characters, cards, and areas portrayed here are not taken credit by me, except for my own alternate plot and characters.**


	5. Chapter 4: A Field Trip?

**I would like to thank all my reviewers and readers for their constant support in my first Yugioh story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything about Yugioh from the cards, characters, story, and places. Except for my own creations. Thanks.**

* * *

***A Field Trip?***

Yuma panted as he threw open the doors of the duel club, "Am I late?!"

All heads turned to the spiky haired boy and laughed as the worst duelist in the entire club had entered the building. Tetsuo shook his head in disappointment while Shark smiled to see his trainee and friend return.

"Did you find him?" Shark was curious.

Yuma shook his head, "No, but that's because you were too hard on him, Shark. You shouldn't have taken his deck for that!" Everyone else gasped at Yuma's sudden outburst at the duelist who could take him down without a second thought, but Shark only smiled.

"You need to understand," Shark explained, "He needed to be punished for playing tricks like that."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Yuma gave in and quickly changed the subject, "So, when are we going to duel?"

"Right now," Shark turned around to the other duelists and shouted, "Everyone find a partner to duel against. The rules are simple and the same as always just have fun while dueling."

Immediately, members scrambled around to find opponents. They all knew who the toughest duelists were, which were to be avoided, so they had set their sights on the worst duelist of them all, Yuma Tsukumo.

Yuma panicked as a rush of students went at him while asking him to be their partners, "Uh…what do I do?"

A hand tapped him on the back, "Do you accept my challenge?"

Yuma turned around, "Tetsuo?" but then he smirked. "Oh yeah, I've been waiting for this moment!" The students, noticing that their opponent was already taken, walked off while groaning in disappointment.

Yuma threw the top part of his D-pad into the air, "D-pad set!" As it came back down and attached itself to the red touch screen. Tetsuo did the same with his green and white D-pad as well.

Both placed their D-gazers on as the area around them was flashing with numerical digits everywhere, "_AR link established."_

"Duel!"

**Yuma: 4000**

**Tetsuo: 4000**

"You'd better watch out, because here I come!" Tetsuo shouted. "Here's a hit; I summon Aye-Iron." Blue light appeared in front of him and out came a mechanical Kangaroo with cymbals for its hands (LV 4/ATK 1600/DEF 1800).

Yuma was pumped as ever, "That's _so _cool!"

"I'm not done yet," Tetsuo reminded him. "I activate Aye-Iron's effect, once per turn; it gains 400 ATK!" As he said this the kangaroo slammed its cymbals together and a light aura surrounded it (1600—2000). "Although if I use that effect, he can't attack, but since this is the first turn it's to my advantage!"

Yuma complimented his friend, "Two-thousand on the first turn, you rock Tetsuo!"

"Heh, you should be worried about that," Tetsuo smirked. "I end this turn with a face down." A face down card appeared behind the Aye-Iron.

"Get set to get decked," Yuma drew his sixth card. "Ha! Gagaga Magician!" A whited haired wizard in dark robes appeared, there were chains attached to him (LV 4/ATK 1500/DEF 1000).

Tetsuo laughed, "Yeah, but he has way less ATK than my Aye-Iron."

"Damn, you're right…but," Yuma smirked. "I equip Wonder Wand to Gagaga Magician!" A wand with a green orb appeared and Gagaga Magician took hold of it and started to glow in strength (1500—2000). "This equip increases his ATK by 500!"

"Nice move, but they have the same ATK now."

"Not for long. If I can take down your Aye-Iron, then it's worth the sacrifice!" Yuma directed his attack to the mechanical kangaroo. "Use Gagaga Magic!" The wizard blasted a purple beam of light from his wand, but the kangaroo tapped its cymbals together, creating a strong sound wave which collided with the beam. When the smoke cleared, both were gone.

Tetsuo frowned, "Nice move…I guess."

"Oh yeah, now I end my turn."

"My turn," Tetsuo drew his next card and smiled.

"What's so funny?" asked Yuma.

"Not only did you destroy your own monster with a stupid move like that," his friend pointed out. "But you left yourself wide open with no face downs!"

Yuma observed his side of the field and pulled his hair, "Oh crap! Why the heck didn't I set my trap card?"

"Your loss, I summon Shredder!" A cube-like robot with a needle shredder on its head appeared (LV 4/ATK 1600/DEF 1200). "Then, I play Rush Recklessly! This card increases my monster's attack by 700 until the End Phase." The Shredder started to heat up and turns red as steam emitted from its head (1600—2300), "Go, and attack Yuma directly!" It lowered its head and sharp pieces of metal slashed through Yuma, sending him back a couple feet onto the ground.

**Yuma: 1700**

**Tetsuo: 4000**

"My I'll finish my turn with one face down, your move." The robot's color returned to normal (2300—1600).

Yuma rubbed the back of his head, "Wow, that was really intense, but I'm far from done!" He performed a front flip to land back on his feet. "I'm feeling the flow, draw!"

"Let's go, Gogogo Golem!" A purple portal transported out a large creature made of stone with giant fists (LV 4/ATK 1800/DEF 1500). "Next, I use Blustering Winds!" A fearsome gust blew around the stone golem as it raised its fists (1800—2800).

"What?" Tetsuo gasped in surprise.

"It increases Gogogo Golem's attack and defense by 1000 until my next standby phase!" Yuma explained. "Now Gogogo Golem, attack Shredder! Gogogo Blow!" The golem raised its fist and punched, sending a powerful gust of air at the robot, which crushed it to pieces.

**Yuma: 1700**

**Tetsuo: 2800**

Tetsuo frowned, but smiled as his friend had made _some _progress, "Well, hurry it up."

"That was my _Ultimate Comeback Attack!_" scoffed Yuma. "And I end my turn, _this _time with a face down." A reverse card materialized behind the Gogogo Golem.

"I draw," he swiped the top card of his deck. "I summon my Tin Goldfish in attack mode!" Made of red, blue, and gold; a fish with a mechanical body was summoned (LV4/ATK 800/DEF 2000). "Then, my Goldfish' effect activates; when he's normal summoned, I can special summon another Tin Goldfish from my hand! Come on out, another Tin Goldfish!" Another metallic fish materialized next to the first one. "Next, I play the spell; Iron Call! While I control a face up machine type monster, I can special summon another level four or lower one from my graveyard!" Metallic sounds resonated from the card causing the mechanical kangaroo to materialize from the ground (ATK 1600).

"Three level four monsters…you're not thinking of—!"

Tetsuo cut him off, "That's right! I construct an Overlay Network with these two monsters!" As he said so, a swirling portal of light appeared. The two fish monsters became energy light and were sucked into the portal, causing it to erupt with colors. "Xyz summon! Come on out, Tin Archduke!"

Once the colors died down, a mechanical man with eyeballs too big for him stood on the field. In his right hand was a short sword. He almost had a toy-like appearance to him (Rank 4/ATK 2200/DEF 1200/Xyz 3).

Yuma's eyes shined in admiration, "Wow…a Xyz monster! This is so awesome!"

"Since I can't destroy your golem yet, I'll end my turn."

"Alright, here we go!" Yuma drew his card. The wind surrounding Gogogo Golem dissipated (2800—1800). Without studying his hand, he played his next monster; Achacha Archer, a warrior clad in armor wielding a bow (LV 3/ATK 1200/DEF 600). "Due to his effect, when he's normal or flip summoned, you take 500 points of damage!" The archer strung his arrow and released an arrow coated in flames that hit Tetsuo square in the chest, causing him stagger backwards.

**Yuma: 1700**

**Tetsuo: 2300**

"Ha! Take that Tetsuo!"

"Is that all?" Tetsuo threatened.

Yuma laughed, "No! My Gogogo Golem will attack your…oh no!" Yuma realized that his summoning Achacha Archer was a mistake due to Tin Archduke's higher attack and Blustering Winds' effect had been used up. "I-I end my turn…"

Tetsuo took his draw, "First, I activate my face down; the continuous trap, Call of the Haunted. This lets me bring back my Aye-Iron from the graveyard. Then I equip him with Spring Punch!" A red glove attached to a spring replaced one of the kangaroo's cymbals.

"What?" Yuma gasped.

"Now I'll activate Aye-Iron's effect to increase his attack by 400." The kangaroo glowed from tapping its cymbals (1600—2000). "Then, Spring Punch's effect activates; each time the equipped monster gains attack, half of his total attack is dealt to your life points, but he can't attack this turn!" The kangaroo released the spring fist.

"Oh sh…!" Yuma was punched in the face before he could say whatever he was going to say and fell on the floor. "Ow…" he rubbed his face.

**Yuma: 700**

**Tetsuo: 2300**

"Not finished. I equip Tin Archduke with Big Bang Shot, which increases his attack by 400!" The tin man glowed with red flames (2200-2600). "Next, I activate his effect; by detaching one Xyz material, I change your Achacha Archer to defense position!" One of the light orbs floating around the Archduke was transferred to the sword. The tin man pointed it at the archer and forced it to kneel down in a defense stance (ATK 1200—DEF600).

Yuma was confused, "But won't that make it harder for you?"

"I'll show you now, Tin Archduke, attack Achacha Archer!"

The tin man ran towards the archer while pointing its blade at it. It raised its sword and was about to slash down when Yuma intervened.

"I use my trap Half Unbreak!" Bubbles appeared out of nowhere and surrounded the archduke as it brought down its sword. "It protects my archer and since you placed him in defense position, I take no damage!"

"Not so fast Yuma! Big Bang Shot's other effect is that when my monster attacks a defense position monster, it inflicts piercing damage!"

"What? Then, that means!" Yuma continued, but the force from the spell's effect broke past the bubbles and blasted his whole body.

**Yuma: 0**

**Tetsuo: *WINNER***

The environments returned as the holograms vanished, along with the AR vision link. Tetsuo walked over to where Yuma was lying down with his limbs spread out.

"You okay?" Tetsuo asked.

Yuma opened his eyes and sat up, "I lost again, didn't I?"

His friend laughed, "Yeah, but this time you actually put up a fight. Albeit a wimpy fight, but at least you managed to lower my life points a bit."

This prompted Yuma to smile, _At least I'm getting better and I'll get better than better! If I know what I mean! _He stopped as he Shark coming towards them.

"Hey Shark, what's up?" Tetsuo said. "Did you see Yuma duel?"

Shark nodded, "You're getting better, but maybe know your monster's effects first before you send them out." He helped his grounded friend up with a pull of the arm. Shark noticed Yuma gripping something that hung from a leather string.

Yuma noticed Shark's interest in his pendant, "Oh this? It belonged to my father before he died; he gave it to me with my deck."

But Shark didn't seem to hear what Yuma was saying, the gold pendant was all he saw. _Is this what we're looking for? _Shark thought. _It does fit the description, but hmm…huh?_

His thought was pushed back when he realized Yuma was waving his hands in front of him, "Shark, earth to Shark? Aren't you listening to me?"

"Erhm…yeah, sorry, I was just thinking about something," he replied and changed the subject. "Well, duel clubs' over, everyone else pretty much left, so…you guys should get going as well."

"Alright, we'll see you tomorrow then," Tetsuo packed up his belongings. "Let's go Yuma, it's getting late and remember we all got in trouble last time for staying at Carly's store for too long?"

Yuma nodded, "Yeah. Well, see you Shark!" He slung his backpack over his should and followed Tetsuo out of the club.

After everyone left, Shark just stood there, not moving, as thoughts came bursting into his mind.

_A peculiar object that could open the gate hidden on Castel Island, _he thought. _I think that's what he said…_

He walked over to the racks where his bag and D-pad were at and grabbed them before turning off the lights. As he stood there holding the knob of the door, _Rio…please wait for me, your big bro will come save you soon, just…please hang on… _with that, the door closed behind him.

* * *

***Yuma's House***

It was an amazing weekend for Yuma Tsukumo. The weather being sunny and clear skies had those past two days made for him. Lots of fellow duelists at the park for him to challenge, even though he lost pathetically to many of them, but his friends' encouragements made up for it. Sunday evenings such as these before school was always Yuma's worst times of the week.

Yuma was flipping through channels trying to find his favorite show, D.D. ESPer Robin. It was about a "dude" wearing a mask who fought evil through different dimensions. He yawned on his couch and button abused the remote when his sister suddenly told him to stop.

"Why?" Yuma moaned in protest.

Akari however; paid no heed to his attitude, so he kicked her in the knees. She turned around and slugged him in the shoulder while calling him a "twerp".

"Big sis, why did you make me stop at this channel?" wondered Yuma. He shifted his eyes to the screen wondering what intrigued his sister this much. There was a headline news report about multiple people going missing in Heartland. Some news reporter guy was seen near the Heartland City Hall with some weird looking dude.

"Mr. Heartland, what will you do now?" questioned the reporter.

The Heartland guy seemed dramatically upset, "Oh…boo-hoo, my poor citizens…I don't know what to do…"

"But as our mayor, shouldn't you take any actions?"

"We have police forces searching everywhere for the trace of our citizens, we can only hope that they will be found now," he sniffled.

The reporter patted the mayor on the back, "I understand, it must be tough for you."

Heartland nodded, "But the great thing is; CCP is willing to promote ads to help find our victims too."

"CCP, as in the franchise?"

"Yes, they will be giving out free cards to promote our city to be aware and on the lookout for our missing citizens, they are _too _kind."

"That's great to hear, well thank you for answering these questions and hope you take it easy, Mr. Mayor."

Heartland wiped his tears, "Thank you."

The screen shifted to the local news station, the HCB or Heartland Central Broadcast. They displayed the photographs of the missing individuals while indicating their names and their last locations before they disappeared. Yuma gasped as he saw Carly's image pop up amongst the list.

Yuma pointed to the screen, "Hey! That's Carly, one of Kotori's friends who works at that CCP store!"

"Are you sure?" Akari examined the face of the brown haired girl.

"Yeah, and her last location was…" he carefully scanned the description of her profile and gasped at what he had discovered. "She disappeared the night we left from her store!"

Akari's eyes narrowed, "But then what could have happened to her? Who are these kidnappers?"

Yuma shook his head, "I don't know, but I have to tell Kotori about this tomorrow. This is actually serious busine—," But grunted in pain as his sister smacked him on the head with her fist.

"Ow!" Yuma rubbed his head, now protruding a large lump. "What was that for?"

"You need to stay out of this matter, twerp," she snapped, but her facial expression shifted to concern.

"Are you worried about those people?"

She shook her head, "Yes of course, but it's just that the kidnappers could attack the academy students as well…"

Yuma elbowed his big sister, "Aww, you're afraid I'm gonna get kidnapped, that's so sweet—!"

_BAM!_

He rolled around on the carpet while clutching his stomach in pain. Sometimes, Yuma knows when he takes his jokes too far with his sister. She probably got her craziness from grandma as well.

"I honestly don't care if you get raped," she smiled. "But…I wouldn't be able to knock you around if you were gone, can I?" She grabbed his head and ruffled his hair with her knuckles.

"Okay, okay!" he struggled away from her grasp.

She pushed him away as well, "Shouldn't you be in bed? It's like 11 o'clock right now."

"Yeah, but I'm actually curious about the victims…"

"It's none of your business at the moment…" she said. "Just get out of here."

He stuck out his tongue at her before running up the stairs. Akari sat down on the couch and stretched out her legs from the tiring day at work she spent. She stared at the television screen, but didn't register what was going on. After a couple of minutes, she cleaned up her stuff before turning off the T.V. and lights.

_Yuma, please don't stay out after dark anymore, please…_

* * *

***Homeroom***

Students were shifting around the large classroom talking amongst their friends. It was before class was about to start and everyone was whispering about what they heard on the news last night.

"I noticed that one of the victims was a girl who works at our local card store," a student mentioned.

Yuma, who was unusually early for class, sat at his desk with his fingers crossed, but overheard the conversation and closed his eyes. _Carly…I wonder what happened to the victims. _He wondered. _Kotori is going to freak out about this one… _

_Ring! Ring! Ring! _The bell rang as the students quickly moved around to locate their desks. Yuma saw Kotori entering the room last with a look of sadness on her face. He frowned as she passed by his desk and dropped her bag on the floor before seating herself behind him. Yuma turned to say something when the teacher entered the classroom and announced something big to the class.

"I know many of you are worried about the individuals who were kidnapped," he said gloomily. "So I've decided it would be best to take our minds off of this predicament and enjoy ourselves with a class field trip!" All the students looked at Mr. Ukyo in surprise.

Yuma suddenly grew excited as he heard the news, but was still felt bad when he noticed that Kotori was looking down at her desk.

"This will be both an educational and enjoyable field trip," Ukyo continued. "I have arranged tickets for our class to board the S.S.D., a dueling cruise ship to Castel Island, a nature preserve just a couple miles across water from Heartland."

With that, there was a sudden outburst of chit-chat amongst the students as they were anticipating for this trip. Mr. Ukyo handed out tickets to each student as he walked around the classroom.

"This is so cool!"

"I know! I heard that the S.S.D. holds a duel tournament throughout the entire ship. Not to mention fine dining, cozy suite rooms, and awesome indoor games and activities!"

"Yeah, but dueling is the best, of course!"

Yuma too, was overly pumped for this trip. He went over to Kotori who had her head in her arms as she lied on the desk.

"Come on Kotori, I heard about what happened to Carly," he consoled. "I'm pretty sure the police will find the criminals and rescue to kidnapped people!"

She nodded, "I guess you're right, but I just feel horrible for leaving her like that and what happened to her afterwards."

"Kotori, this isn't like you!" he grabbed her cheeks and straightened them out. "See? You look better while you smile!" He quickly realized that he had made a mistake when she slapped him hard across the face.

"Ow!" he rubbed his red cheek. "What was that for? I was trying to make you smile!"

"Yuma!" her cheeks were red as well. "Don't you dare touch my face, got it?" Her eyes instilled fear into Yuma as he backed away from this crazy girl.

"Okay, okay. I got it," he said.

Mr. Ukyo came by and handed them their tickets. Yuma stared down at the pink colored paper in excitement. It had a picture of a ship sailing across a cool outline of what appeared to be the water. S.S.D. was signed on the right hand corner in fancy lettering.

Everyone quieted down as Mr. Ukyo cleared his throat, "We will board the ship this Friday at the Heartland Piers downtown. Be there by 7:50am or you will miss the ship, I will be waiting at the front gates to direct anyone who gets lost. Furthermore, once we get to Castel Island, we will spend two nights there, so bring changeable clothing and any belongings you will need. That is all for today, class is dismissed." However; he wasn't finished yet, "If you wish to participate in the duel contest, bring your dueling gear. Also, if you need any transportation, please let me know now." With that everyone began leaving the classroom and others went over to the teacher to discuss transportation matters.

"Kotori let's go! I need to get my stuff ready for the trip!" Yuma pulled on her arm.

"Alright, alright, but first I need to get my bag, you know?"

* * *

***?***

Yuma gently strode across the moonlit clearing until he reached the mouth of the shadowy cavern. Although it was dark, the familiarity of the area allowed him to navigate through the pitch-black tunnel. Eventually, he made his way into the large room filled with monstrous pillars and the strange _door. _

He scratched his head, _This place; I swear I remember this cave… _As he walked through the line of stone pillars, his Emperor's Key began to emanate the same gold light as before. The large door ahead seemed to be calling out to the key, almost pulling him towards it.

_Do you desire the strength to compensate for your weakness? _It seemed to say. _The time is high near and danger is about to come._

"What kind of danger?" Yuma was curious. The only kind of danger he knew about was his grandmother's cheeks. They were so wrinkly and gross, but he had to kiss them every single day.

_On the isle of false titles, danger awaits…and where you will be given the choice. _

"Aisle of what? I'm not going grocery shopping until next week!" as Yuma said this, the entire cave began to collapse. The stone pillars and ceilings were crashing down onto the floor, and then warping into crushed pixels. Everything around him disappeared and he screamed as he was sucked into a large portal.

He fell on the floor of his attic room, while the D-gazer alarm was going off. Yuma quickly got up and checked the time. _7:35! _He grabbed everything he had packed up last night, stuffed the ticket in his back pocket, and rushed down the stairs to where Akari was typing.

"Sis! I'm late for the cruise, drive me there, now!" he shook on his sisters shirt, causing her to punch him in the face, sending him back. "Ow, what was that for?"

Akari sighed in annoyance, "Dude, you really are hopeless." She grabbed her keys and bag before walking out of the house, "Hurry up twerp, or you'll miss the ship if you haven't already!" With that, Yuma sprinted as fast as he could into Akari's blue car with her motorcycle attached on the roof. She turned the ignition and was on their way.

Although the pier was easily a five minute drive from the Tsukumo's residence, traffic would delay them about 10 more minutes as cars stood in line and honked at each other, some eager to get to their next destinations as well.

"Gah! I'm gonna be late!" Yuma was biting his nails in panic at the long line of vehicles in front of them. "Sis, can't you go any faster?"

"What the hell do you think I'm trying to do?" Akari was honking madly as well, but nothing seemed to be working. At this rate, their time of arrival would be at least twenty minutes, which would mean Yuma would miss his trip. Suddenly, she had an idea, although it was a very risky one. She parked her car and took out her keys, before stepping out of the car into the traffic itself. Yuma, noticing his sister's actions, was in shock.

"Sis! What do you think you're doing?" he watched her as she pulled off the ropes securing the motorcycle. It rolled down the back of the car onto the road, she signaled for him to get on behind her. He quickly got out of the car with his bags and jumped on. Excitement was building up within him, "Are we really gonna do this?"

His sister put on her red helmet, "Well, you wanna be late or what?" She turned the handle and it roared to life. As she did this multiple times, the bike began to shake and the smell of smoke filled the air around them. "Hang on tight, you're gonna owe me for this." After one last turn, the motorcycle sped ahead through the small passageways made between cars.

"Damn! I didn't know my sister was _this _cool!" he howled in joy at this exciting moment, although a bit dangerous. Akari maneuvered as best as she could through the small cracks of the road, but gasped as she saw a car right in front of them. With no other choice, she lifted the handles, bike and all were pulled up, sliding across the top of the car. Window and metal crunched beneath them as they finally sped over the windshield and hurried on ahead. Swearing could be heard from behind them.

They made their way through downtown, turning and braking in order to avoid unnecessary destruction of property. As the bike rumbled towards the pier, Yuma caught a glimpse of the ship, the bridge was being drawn and time was running out. "Sis! The ship's about to leave, we're not gonna make it!"

Akari glanced at her speedometer, _I can't go over this, or I'll be arrested. _She turned back to the road ahead, they were right at the pier gates, which were about to close. Turning the handle even more, she accelerated. The gates were about a feet from closing. _Come on, come on. _She further sped up causing the engine to roar, they reached the gates, just about to close and…

_BOOM!_

They passed through just barely, before they shut; now their problem was to get on the ship itself. People on board started to look over at them, curious as to who it could be. Akari noticed the pier dock was long enough to accelerate, but Yuma would have to jump. She turned to him, "Yuma, I can only get you to the dock; you're going to have to jump from there." The plan was set as he nodded back to her.

She sped up, the motorcycle now on the pavement, just before reaching the wooden platform of the dock. As they neared the edge, "Yuma, jump!" she shouted. The bike came to a stop, and Yuma was already in the air with his hands out forward. Kotori and Tetsuo were on the railings with their hands extended out.

"Kattobingu!" he was soaring through the air. His friends' tried to reach out to him, but their eyes widened in shock as he began to lose momentum. Yuma's bags made him too heavy. They and his sister watched in horror as he began to fall down, towards the sea, but were surprised when he had landed on a life boat instead.

Yuma rubbed his head and looked around the life boat; there was only one person there with him who was rowing it, a young man. Akari sighed in relief and smiled, before noticing the guards who were upset with her little show approaching her. Kotori and Tetsuo as well, happy with their friend's rescue, went to tell the teacher.

"Um…thanks," Yuma said with a grin. "Why are you here anyways?" He wondered as he noticed that the boat had nothing except for a bag that most likely belonged to the man. The white haired youth smiled.

"I was late, just like you." At that moment, two ropes came down to the boat. He hooked them onto his end, while pointing at Yuma to do the other. He did so, and the white haired man pulled the rope, signaling for them to be pulled up.

Kotori smacked Yuma on the head, "You! You, idiot!" Tears began to well up in her eyes, "You shouldn't have attempted to do something like that, who knows what would have…h-happened if…h-he wasn't t-there to save y-you…" she broke down, with Yuma not knowing what to do about it, he's never seen Kotori cry before.

Tetsuo as well, was upset with Yuma's endeavor, "Dude, if he wasn't there, I would've felt so bad."

Mr. Ukyo approached Yuma with an angry look, "Mr. Tsukumo, you do realize what you did was seriously against school regulations. I might have to report you for this little event," he then directed his hand towards the white haired man. "Thank him now and apologize for startling him like that."

Yuma walked up to him, "Thanks for saving; I apologize if I caused you any trouble, Mr.…" the man smiled at Yuma's forced gratitude and shook his head.

"No problem. I'm sure you would have done the same thing for me, or anyone else," he chuckled, but slightly narrowed his eyes. "You can call me Chrome." With that, he walked away and Yuma was slightly curious about this man. Something about him seemed… off. But everything was pushed aside when he remembered where he was, the _S.S.D. _A cruise ship dedicated to dueling with everything a duelist can ever ask for and more.

"_All of those who are interested in participating in the Duel Tourney please come up to the registration area in dining room. Thank you." _As the intercom switched off, Yuma began to shake with excitement. He told his friends, Kotori still in shock with Tetsuo consoling her, that he was going to go register and hurried as fast as he could.

***End***

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Thanks for reading this chapter and I hope you liked it!

**Preview: Chapter 5 Leisure Dueling!**

**It's finally here! Yuma's been waiting for this moment the whole week. He's going to enter the annual S.S.D.'s Duel Tourney, a small tournament onboard the fine cruise line for a special grand prize, and the title of that week's champion. Who are the many duelists that will appear for the competition? Find out on the next chapter!**

That's all for this chapter and I hope for feedback. See you soon!


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